The Soldiers’ Barracks at Fort Vancouver Burn
A fire destroys the barracks at Fort Vancouver; soldiers are hurt fighting the flames, but no lives are lost.
We learn by a gentleman from Vancouver, a few days ago, that the soldiers' barracks at that Fort were destroyed by fire. The other buildings were uninjured. Several of the soldiers were injured in their exertions to extinguish the flames; no lives, however, were lost. We could get no further particulars.
“Several of the soldiers were injured in their exertions to extinguish the flames; no lives, however, were lost.”
Fort Vancouver was the army’s regional headquarters and supply hub; a barracks fire could disrupt the whole Columbia Department. The site is now Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, where the burned-barracks era is part of the layered history.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.